#like i had people to meet up with and housework to do and as downtime i wanted to finish my book and start another

[catbureau]

well. thats one way to waste a weekend 💀

[momentumgo]

Jennifer Schlichting

Animator + Illustrator https://www.jenniferschlichting.com/ Seattle, WA Age 32 She/Her

How did you get your start in motion design, animation, or whatever it is that you do?

I always knew I wanted to do something with computers and art. I've always loved drawing but didn't know how to marry the two. When I was 8, Toy Story came out and it immediately captured my imagination. As I grew older and realized what it took to create something like that I dreamed about working at Pixar one day. Long story short, I went to The Art Institutes of Minnesota and got a Bachelor's in Media Arts & Animation (which is now closed it was such a joke of a school). While I was there from 2007-2009 we had a few classes that dabbled in 3D Studio Max and Maya. I got to dive into 3D which was great, but it was such a painful user experience it put a huge damper on my desire to create 3D animation work of any kind.

After graduating in 2009 I moved back to my hometown in Iowa and had a hard time finding creative work of almost any kind (shocker, it's IOWA haha). I took a job as a bank teller to pay the bills and married my "high school sweetheart." A few years later I landed a job at one of Nordstrom's photo studios as a photo retoucher and lived in Photoshop all day making models and clothes look impossibly perfect. I also took the odd business card or logo design gig that came my way and fed my soul creatively by taking up painting with watercolor.

After six years in an abusive marriage, living paycheck to paycheck, having a toxic work environment, and my creative soul dying more every day I finally got up the guts to put an end to all of it. I divorced my husband, quit my job, and took everything that could fit in my SUV (including my cat) on a three day road trip across the country to move out to Seattle. I only knew a handful of people and had no job lined up, but I had a place to live for free for two months while I figured out what the heck I was going to do with my life next. That was enough for me. 

I landed a contract job at Amazon doing basic graphic design work for the next 7 months and the pay was (just barely) enough to land my first studio apartment in Seattle. Knowing my contract would be coming to an end soon I was keeping my eye out for my next gig the entire time. Not knowing many people in Seattle (let alone the motion design community) made it really difficult to get in anywhere at first. I found a local Adobe After Effects and Cinema 4D meetup group and started going every month to meet some of the community and pick their brains on how to break in. I started doing YouTube tutorials in my free time and revamping my portfolio.

One of the art directors at Amazon heard I was looking for my next gig and after she went through my portfolio with me she suggested that I read The 2 Hour Job Search. It gave great advice on how to get out of the black hole of submitting your job application online and never getting anywhere. I started going directly to people. My LinkedIn search began and the emails were flying out the door. I made a spreadsheet of all the studios in the greater Seattle area, what kind of work they did, the contacts I was making, what kind of jobs they were posting for, and got to work creating projects to put into my first reel since 2009. 

People were slowly starting to respond to my emails and accepting my offers to buy them coffee. I met so many lovely and helpful people (and a couple oddballs too haha). I asked what kind of work they were doing, how long their contracts usually were, what it was like to do animation work all day every day, what they were getting paid, and how tailoring their reel got them in the door doing the work they want to do.

One guy I met up with in particular (while I didn't know at the beginning of the conversation) was looking for a motion design intern to bring onto their small but mighty agency. By the end of our conversation he offered me the position! He had a passion for teaching and he could tell I was hungry to learn. While it didn't pay much, and was only a couple days a week I was able to put "motion design intern" on my resume while also working part-time doing graphic design work for a shoe and apparel company. I had just turned 30 and accepted an intern position, but was so thankful for company that didn't discriminate against age!

A few months later I heard back from a corporate telecommunications company I had applied to several months prior. They were interested in starting up an internal studio instead of outsourcing out all their work to agencies in town. I would be the first full-time creative on the team and had to be a unicorn. I knew a little video editing, some storyboarding, some motion design, some graphic design, and that was enough for them to offer me the position.

Fast forward two years and the team has grown to 20+ people and I've done everything from t-shirt design, graphic design, motion design, video editing, storyboarding, and deck design for massive conferences. It's not always fun or exciting animation work, but it pays the bills and afforded me a house in the crazy Seattle market.

How do you balance your work with your personal life? How do the two influence each other?

There have definitely been times when there are late nights at work but they seem to be fewer and farther between now that the studio is more established and they are working through better processes. I'm in by 9am and leave by 5pm most days. Weekend work is rare. We get two weeks paid vacation each year (and more the longer you stay with the company) as well. There is definitely more fun animation work in Seattle than what I'm doing currently but it's nice to have a steady paycheck and have time for personal projects on the side.

State your privilege – What circumstances may have helped or hindered you along the way?

I'm a white female born into a Midwest middle class family in the United States. I have a Bachelor's degree which was paid for in-part by my parents but I carried student debt until 2018 (thanks to my abusive first marriage-my ex refused to work for several years and insisted his "business ideas" would make us millions one day). I got out of debt myself by pulling myself up by my own bootstraps. The college I went to was not a great one and have learned so much more on my own since graduating than I ever did in college. I went to college full-time and year-round to graduate faster while also holding down three part-time jobs to help pay for college. It also saved me a ton of money every month after moving in with my now husband and paying only partial rent in Seattle.

I've always had gumption and a stubborn, never-give-up attitude. I was taught at a young age that I had to take responsibility for myself and my future and took that seriously. My parents weren't thrilled I wanted to go to an art college (and they had two more kids to put through college as well) but made a deal if I wanted to go I had to pay my own way. They took out the loan for me, but I paid it all back. I didn't have any scholarships but I made it work. I think it helped that I attended community college for two years before I transferred to The Art Institute and that lowered the tuition bill because of all the general education classes I took beforehand.

If you are a caretaker, how do you arrange your life so that you can achieve your professional goals while being responsible for others, (parents, children, etc.)?

My husband was a package deal and came with twin 9-year-old boys. We have them for a full week every other week. I'm not going to lie – it's a lot, even having them for an entire week haha! My husband and I both work full time but he has more flexibility when it comes to start/end times for his day and working from home. He drops the boys off and picks them up from school/daycare/camps/appointments/swim lessons/ etc. 

The weeks we don't have the boys we spend our nights and weekends taking care of housework and building our portfolios (he's a creative as well). We are also trying to be more aware of how we spend our time and shift more of it towards self-care and doing more fun things together vs. the never-ending "to-do" list all the time.

How have you learned to practice self-care? What do you do to take care of yourself?

This is something I'm still working on, haha! My husband does a great job reminding me to take time for myself, and we love to go out to eat, go to the beach, go for a hike, get massages, or paint and draw together. I've also recently swapped my hour+ commute to work where I would drive myself through Seattle traffic with now taking a corporate shuttle in. This has given me so much of my time back where I can read, draw on my iPad, or catch up on my favorite YouTubers.

I also love painting in my downtime (http://www.jenniferelizabethstudios.com/) which gives me a wonderful break from all the screen time and let's my hands do something tactile. There's no undo button with watercolors and I've accepted that and turned it into a more "zen-like experience" where I try not to control everything haha.

Just getting outside and into nature can be so refreshing. Even if it's a ten minute walk outside on my lunch break can do wonders for my mood. That, and getting 7-8 hrs of sleep/night! Oh, and making sure to take lunch breaks AWAY FROM MY DESK.

And snuggling with my purring cat never fails to make me feel better no matter what's going on in my life.

How do you define success? What would success look like for you?

Being happy and fulfilled with the life you're living. I've always liked the quote "Create a life you don't need a vacation from." Which, may be difficult to do but I think it's definitely something to aim towards.

Success isn't all dollar signs, but getting paid what I'm worth is definitely a win for me. Plus it's always nice being able to take people out to dinner and buy them nice Christmas presents. :)

On another note, I always feel successful when other people reach out wanting to chat and hear about my experience thus far. Whether it's people looking to shift gears slightly or change career tracks entirely it always makes me feel happy and successful when I can help someone out with any lessons or things I've learned along the way.

What advice do you have for those just starting out?

Take advantage of all the resources online! There was almost none of that ten years ago when I was starting out.

Don't be afraid to reach out to people. You never know where it'll lead. :)

Leave your ego at the door and don't be a jerk. Nobody wants to work with a jerk.

Never stop learning.

Look for jobs with titles other than "motion designer." Currently my title is "Communication Design Manager". LOL . Read the job descriptions to see if there will be animation work involved! Sometimes companies don't know what to call us.

Some great inspirational and informational resources to check out:

-Design for Motion: Fundamentals and Techniques of Motion Design by Austin Shaw

-The Freelance Manifesto: A Field Guide for the Modern Motion Designer

-The 2-Hour Job Search

-Real Artists Don't Starve by Jeff Goins

-Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon

-Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in that order) by Bridget Quinn

-The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown

-In the Company of Women by Grace Bonney

-Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

-Creative Pep Talk by Andy Miller

[poetryasf-ck]

Good Grief #5 - Nicole Carter

I’m Nicole Carter, born in 1975 and now 43 years young, I started writing at the age of 12, my first book was called The Key, measures 10 cm by 7 cm and is 13 pages long.  It was an attempt at writing a fantasy adventure story, where you decide what happens next by choosing which page to turn to next.  It’s epic, and probably still my best work to date ☺  Studying Higher English in 5th year and again in 6th year at High School, my second attempt may not have given me the A grade I wanted, but my teacher was aaaahmazing.  He introduced us to Norman MacCaig’s poetry which continues to inspire me.  My first “proper” recital was at the remembrance service for an ex-boyfriend fellow student, who had very sadly passed away when I was studying Applied Biological Sciences at Napier Uni, in 1998.  

Due to the rollercoaster ride of a life I’ve had since 1995, it took several years before I got involved in writing again.  After another hospital admission, I got involved with the Royal Edinburgh Psychiatric Hospital writer’s group in 2008, and things evolved from there.  My next recital was at a Shore Poets open mic gig in 2010.  I’d previously written some really difficult poems about sexual assault and other traumas I’d faced, and at that first open mic, I was extremely nervous, I was shaking and my voice was quivering.  It was the start of me continuing to use poetry as a means of, what I felt, was a necessary, cathartic compulsion and has grown since then, into me being open about all my hard times, in order to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, homelessness and abuse.  Essentially, I want to save the world by helping other people to feel more comfortable sharing their stories, so that the fear of these issues, is reduced by creating a better understanding of them.

1. Why, if there was a reason, did you write this poem/these poems?

I try to use poetry as a means of, what I feel, is a necessary, cathartic compulsion which has grown since 2008, when I started going to a psychiatric hospital writers group after another admission.  It has become a real desire for me to be open about all my hard times, in order to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health issues, homelessness and abuse.  

2. Why, upon writing this poem/these poems, did you perform them?

Maybe because since I was a young child, I felt I never had a voice, my father was a violent man but quiet when he wasn’t shouting, there was very little conversation between my parents, as I was growing up.  Reciting my poetry gives me that voice I used to crave and fantasise about, whether or not people actually listen, doesn’t seem to matter to me as much as simply me being able to “exorcise” some inner demons, but often I do try to include some humour in my work.

3. How does performing this piece change how you look at what happened to you?

Aye, ye cannae beat a good rant!!  Not that I do that often, but I really feel it helps me to get stuff off my chest.  Having had regular 2 weekly home visits from CPNs (community psychiatric nurses) for much of my adult life, I realise I’ve actually been very lucky to have that service, and it has enabled me to talk openly and honestly about all the issues that I have, in a safe place with people I am familiar with and trust.  Essentially I’ve had CBT for the past 20 years!!  Lol!!  I’ve come to the conclusion that if getting it all off your chest works for me, then hopefully it will work for other people too, people who don’t have access to CPNs!!!  Wow, it’s all been free too, God bless the NHS!!!  

4. How do you separate artistic performance from lived personal experience?

They both make me nervous, and if I’m honest, I don’t like the pre-recital nerves, but, the over-confident, slightly manic, gobby diva in me, has to get an airing occasionally, to keep me sane!!

5. Do you find yourself affected negatively by performing this piece? If so, how do you look after yourself?

General mental health self-care : I talk to and meet with friends and family, eat regularly (every 2 ½ to 3 hours up until 1 ½ hours before going to bed), keep reasonably  hydrated with water (tapering off up until suppertime to make sure I don’t wake up during the night), use mindfulness / breathing / grounding techniques, listen to music, and make sure I get enough sleep, and downtime in quiet places.  I take my *prescribed meds at the right time (8.30pmish as they help me sleep), I also occasionally to moderately do physical activity such as going for a brisk walk / jog / easyish swim or go to the gym, to help me process the fight-or-flight hormones and neurotransmitters.  Seek professional help if I’m seriously struggling.  The Edinburgh Crisis Centre and Mental Health Assessment service at The Royal Edinburgh Hospital are both fantastic.

6. Do you practice any aftercare after performing this piece (either for yourself or audiences)? (E.g., talking to audience members who are upset, taking some time out after your performance to ground yourself, ensuring you perform in places where you feel safe etc.)

I mention there may be triggers, and have reached out to a few acquaintances I’m friends with on facebook, when they post  something that indicates they may be struggling.  I like letting folk know if their work has struck a chord with me.  Also, please see answer to question 5 above.

7. Do you do any content warnings for this piece? Why?

Yes, because I know how being affected by triggers at gigs can be distressing.

8. Does the artist owe any kind of protection or safeguarding to their audience?

Yes.

9. Do you believe writing about areas such as grief, loss or trauma is a form of healthy catharsis or memorialisation?

Yes.

10. What kind of warnings signs would you point out to someone new to poetry or performance who was performing about their traumas?

Loss of appetite, not sleeping enough, serious distress / anxiety, not communicating with friends / family as often as usual,  nervous habits, addictions, lack of personal hygiene (eg. not showering or brushing teeth for several days), not doing housework to the point it feels like it’s too much to deal with, thoughts of self-harm / suicide.

Samaritans

Breathing Space

The Edinburgh Crisis Centre

Mental Health Assessment Service 

[dianestevenscs]

Surviving the Pandemic

During these exceedingly difficult times, more and more people are struggling emotionally to cope with the changes in our everyday lives.

Many of us are working from home, home schooling, seeing changes in our businesses or workplaces and feeling no real sense of normality. We are missing friends and family and feeling more and more isolated. Our lives feel like they are ‘on hold’ as we are seeing fewer events in our diaries and nothing much to look forward to. Special events are being postponed; weddings, christenings, birthdays, holidays, religious festivals and on and on. Education and exams are being delayed and many of us have our love lives on hold while it’s difficult to meet people. A change in lifestyle is often a knock to our system. Many of us have lost jobs, family members and experienced a change of circumstances in an organic way but when it is impressed upon us it often feels more dictatorial and controlling which gives rise to other feelings of anger and resentment. How do we cope with this ‘not so changing world’ and try to keep our emotions together while often supporting others as well as ourselves?

Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal response to an unfamiliar situation, it’s a fear response.  It’s likely that many of us will experience heightened anxiety during a pandemic, you are not alone. We are not only worried for ourselves but for loved ones and feeling helpless. If anxiety becomes overwhelming and unmanageable then you must seek professional help from your GP. Anxiety can be managed, and you can recover. If anxiety is not passing quickly then you must address it. It’s important to breathe while you are feeling anxiety and listen to your breathing, don’t hold your breath. While you are breathing, slow yourself down and count to ten slowly. When you are feeling more relaxed, listen to what your concerns are in your head. Is there anything you can do about it? If there is, then plan on that, get it out of the way. If not, then there is no point in continuing to worry.

These are some tips to take into consideration to manage anxiety:

When the anxiety comes on, take yourself to a different room and take in your surroundings to get some perspective.

Eat healthy meals regularly, junk food does not energise you.

Have a good sleep routine and stick to it.

Eliminate alcohol and caffeine, which are stimulants.

Talk to someone who will listen and understand.

Depression

Depression is something that happens when we can’t see a way for change. It’s likely that many of us will feel depressed while we are going through the pandemic. Again, if it becomes unmanageable you must seek professional help. In order to manage depression, you must have days where you enjoy things, things to work towards and people around you who care. Healthy eating, exercise and sleep are a massive contribution, as soon as you change your thinking about a healthy lifestyle you will start to feel better. Sitting around all day or being bored with your work, eating too many carbs and sugar will not energize you. You need to have a structure, plans and things to look forward to. For depression to ease you must make changes, doing nothing changes nothing.

How do I survive the pandemic?

Keep Normality.

Keep a daily routine as much as possible, this keeps momentum. Get up at a regular time. Think about the routine that you had before. Did you get up and get straight in the shower? Cup of tea first? Check your emails/ social media? Go for a run? Getting showered and dressed isn’t pointless. Taking care of yourself is paramount to feeling good. You might think that no-one is going to see you, but you will!  Remember how it feels to look good, it makes you feel good and gives a sense of purpose. It also sets a good example to others in the house.

Keep sight of the beginning of last year and remember that routine, the one that got you ready for the day. If the sun was out did you go out? If you had a spare afternoon did you go on a bike ride? Walk with your friends? Learn a new skill? Keep on doing the things that make you happy and energised.

Try to adapt things you would normally do outside the home; this will keep a sense of continuation. Exercise, for example, could be done with the help of YouTube or screening with your friends. Hobbies could be continued with others over video or alone. It doesn’t matter that no one will see it now, we will all be talking about things we have been doing in lockdown and it will be exciting to share.

A Routine

Plan a realistic routine, do this at the beginning of the week for the week ahead. Break the week into days and include exercise, healthy eating and down time. Mark your time slots in the day, still have your morning, afternoon and evening. This gives you a sense of real time.

Don’t start each day with down time, have a reason to get up. Many people find exercise the best start to the day, it generates energy and motivation, even ten minutes can make a difference. There are lots of ten-minute exercise routines on YouTube you can follow, there are regular ones, some for children and some for the elderly and disabled. It might seem an effort, but 10 minutes goes so quickly and will help you feel great!  

You will know what the best times of the day are for your activities. Put order to them so that you are not putting yourself under pressure to do chores when you are least interested. It might be best to get work, housework or home schooling out of the way early in the day, this is when you should be best energised. The afternoon might be for more interesting activities and the evening for relaxing. Without putting extra pressure on yourself, prioritise your tasks and reward yourself when you are able to get things ticked off your list.

If you have workdays, plan when this will be, stick to regular hours if you did before working from home. Try and do it in a block rather than here and there. Fitting it in around other things will feel disorganised. If you are fitting in home schooling, depending on the age of the children, plan whether working together is best or having separate slots for each works better. Have your workspace ready for the morning. Clean your lap top screen, clean your glasses if you have them and have a cup of tea or glass of water ready. Don’t be interrupted by domestic appliances needing attention, you didn’t empty the washing machine before on a workday. Fit that into a natural break or lunch to help keep focus. Make sure your employer knows you are home-schooling and ask for support if you need it.

Everyone who is working from home and home schooling are struggling with time. Don’t be fooled by the social media posts of others who seem to be doing really, really well. If they are then great, but the majority of us are not. You are not a superhero, do what you can and don’t sweat what you can’t. Once you lose focus and start feeling like you are failing, feeling guilty or letting people down then you are on a downward spiral to just that.

Downtime.

Downtime means taking time just for you. Ten to fifteen minutes may be all you need to shut down and do something relaxing, this will make such a difference, particularly if you can do it a few times a day.  A power nap can be taken in this time. During your downtime you must not be disturbed unless there is a genuine emergency, you will relax better knowing that you will not be disturbed. Turn off your phone and devices, relax your body and choose something that doesn’t need too much brain activity. Find what is best for you, it could be reading, knitting, doing a jigsaw puzzle, sleep, meditate. Speak to your friends about what they are doing to relax to get new ideas. You will know what you would get the most benefit out of so make sure this fits in to your everyday routine. Think about what you did before to relax and don't let go of your crafts. A duvet day is acceptable on occasion but not every day.

Remember

The first lockdown for many was a bit of a novelty. The weather was great, it was like being on holiday. Many of us learned new skills and realised our potential in new ways. For those of us not working, we could get up later, eat when we liked and do pretty much what we wanted, but this one….. not so much fun.  Most of us dried up with the first one, as we were ready to get back to our normal life but then to be held back again with further restrictions has been a knock, especially as many of us have lost Christmas and the dark months loom.

I am sure you are hearing all around you that people need someone to blame for the difficult situation we are in, whether that’s the government or your employers or the education system. This has never happened before in our lifetime and many individuals working on easing the pandemic are using their skills for the first time in a crisis. They are making decisions in, what they believe, are the best interest of either the public health or the economy. Mistakes will be made; good decisions will be made but they do not always fit in with our own vision of what things should look like. Understand that we are going through this and the virus will not listen to any amount of complaining, it doesn’t care. Its sole purpose is to survive, and it will do that by spreading amongst us and mutating and we need to accept that and focus on managing our emotions in the best way we can. Constantly worrying or complaining isn’t going to help your mental health just make you feel rubbish. Try not to tune in to too much tv, radio, social media that is spouting constant negatives about the current state of the virus. Allow yourself a short time in the day to catch up with what you feel is important information and leave it at that.

This pandemic cannot last forever. It is hard but we can get through it. We need to adapt to our new environment and accept the changes as they happen but if we take care of ourselves and others, we will get through this much quicker with our mental health intact.

Take care and keep safe.